What should an old man do?
It’s our duty to issue warnings – and later enjoy saying “I told you so”
What should an old man do? What should he be? No longer raising children. No longer a captain of industry, nor even a cog in the machine. No longer fit for battle or lead man in a rom-com. What is his role?
Is it not to remember? In ancient Ireland, “seanachies” were employed to recall the lessons of the past. Wise men, poets, and tellers of tales reminded kings and commoners of the great heroes of the past, their triumphs and their defeats. Shouldn’t an old man today do likewise?
Of course, the young will ignore his unbidden advice. But just because his counsel is unwelcome doesn’t diminish his duty to give it out. Like old, blind Tiresias, he can turn on his heels with dignity and a little mockery: “Just send me home. You bear your burdens, I’ll bear mine. It’s better that way, please believe me”. Later, he can have the pleasure of saying, “I told you so”.
In 1966, investors had the “Nifty Fifty” as their version of today’s Magnificent Seven. They were supposed to be “one-decision” investments that you could have and hold until death did you part. They were the best companies, in the best stockmarket, in the best economy, during the best decade, in the best nation in history. Eastman Kodak, 3M, Procter & Gamble – they had the best technology, and so much money, they could hire the best engineers and managers. What could go wrong? And yet, where did they go after 1966? Nowhere. The group of favourites was more or less flat for the next 16 years. Adjusted for inflation, investors lost 70%-80% of their money.
And then came the 1970s. Inflation came in waves. The first splash arrived in 1969, when prices shot up 6%. Then inflation went down to 3%, and the feds said it was over. But the next wave, in 1974, pushed prices up at a 12% annual rate. After that wave crested, inflation went down to around 6%, and again people said there was no further need to worry about it. The final soak didn’t come until 1979 – ten years after the first one, with inflation at a 13% rate. If the pattern holds, the next big wave will come in 2032, with the dollar losing about 70% of its value between now and then.
Through much of this period, 1966 to 1975, a morbid absurdity hung over the US – the Vietnam War. The idea was to keep the domino from falling over. Those of us over 70 may recall friends who went to “Nam” and never came back alive. And the US squandered so much money on the war, president Richard Nixon felt obliged to go “off the gold standard” – setting in motion the financialisation of the economy, the huge rise in debt, and the approaching bankruptcy of the US empire.
We remember the arguments in favour of continuing the war, now used to prolong the proxy war against Russia: we had to maintain our “credibility”, we had to stop them there now or have to face them in California later. To turn away would be appeasement. (The closest we got, personally, to Vietnam was patrolling the coast of California in a US Navy cruiser. Had the North Vietnamese actually had a blue water navy, and had they used it to launch an assault across the vast Pacific, we were ready for them.)
In the event, the domino fell and nobody cared. Americans now take vacations in Vietnam and buy cheap T-shirts and running pants from Vietnamese mills. A trillion dollars down the rathole, a million dead, apparently, for nothing. Yes, like old, blind Tiresias, we’ve seen our share of misery, crackpottery, and jackassery. Shouldn’t we say something?
“We’ve seen our share of misery, crackpottery and jackassery”